by Hope Stone
There was a smattering of hoots and cheers, but not much. It was a good thing I didn’t care about that. It worked to my advantage to be underestimated.
“Or will it be the meanest son of a bitch I know, The Beast?”
This response from the crowd was much more impressive, and the idiot loved it. Throwing his hands into the air, he stepped into the middle of the ring, gesturing for them to cheer louder for him as if their support mattered at all.
It didn’t. All that mattered was who was better in the ring. Tonight that would be me.
I was strong, with six-pack abs and my own sculpted biceps, but what would give me the edge in this fight was my speed. While The Beast was busy working the crowd, I stepped into the ring and circled around him. I stayed on the balls of my feet, making sure that I was at his back as he moved, just waiting for the signal to begin.
Finally, a shrill whistle cut through the air, and I ran forward, reaching my opponent before he even had a chance to figure out where I’d gone. A quick jab to the kidney made him let out a whoosh of air, but I was gone before he could react, facing him on the other side of our circle.
Most of the crowd around us booed, and I couldn’t keep the smirk off my face. A lot of assholes were about to lose the money they bet against me.
The Beast let out a noise that I could only describe as a growl, his face turning red as he moved toward me. Anger was going to be his weakness. I moved out of his path quickly, landing a kick to the side of his knee as I went. His leg buckled, but he managed to straighten it out and stay on his feet.
A small part of me was glad that he didn’t go down easy. I wanted a challenging fight.
I could sense the moment that The Beast started taking me seriously. When his eyes met mine again, the anger was still there, but I could also see a calculating look. He didn’t move without thinking again.
Good. Now we could really begin.
The sounds of the crowd around us faded into the background as I became laser-focused on the huge man in front of me. Time dragged on as the fight got more intense. The only rule here was no weapons, so there was nothing that was off-limits.
I stuck to my strategy of quick jabs while staying out of reach, but The Beast had a long reach and was able to land a few blows. I had a couple of bruised ribs and a busted lip, but it wasn’t going to slow me down.
The longer the fight went on, the more I tapped into my inner darkness, the anger and guilt that I had carried with me for ten years. It fueled me, making me more vicious. I barely felt the pain of the hits I had taken, and I got more daring, able to land several blows to the man’s face. I even broke his nose.
Then, he got a hold of me. I knew that it might happen, and all I could do was hope that I’d inflicted enough damage to take him down. I took blows to my sides, trying to block them as well as I could with my arms, but it was the right hook to the temple that sent me reeling. I saw stars.
Stumbling back two steps, I couldn’t get away from him, so I tapped into every ounce of aggression that I had. Bringing my arms up, I blocked his next blow. It brought him even further into my space, and, reacting on instinct, I brought my elbow across his face with all my strength. He was dazed, so I swiped his legs. It hurt my own shin, but he went down. Hard.
The sound of him hitting the concrete was a dull thud, and he didn’t get back up. I stood over him, my chest heaving as I wiped blood away from my chin.
I barely registered the surprised reaction of the people around me as I walked out of the ring. Alex was at my side, and he wordlessly handed me a bottle of beer. I took a swig, savoring the cold liquid as it slid down my throat.
“Are you okay?” Alex was eyeing my lip, and I wondered just how bad it looked.
“I’ll live.”
“And you’re lucky for that. That guy was a monster.”
“I think he prefers to be called a beast.”
“How can you make jokes after such a brutal fight?”
I shrugged. The truth was, I felt great. My adrenaline was still pumping, and I had let out some of my ever-present anger. Street fighting was a hell of an outlet.
“Let’s pick up my money and head to the Blue Dog,” I said. “I could use about five more of these.”
I held up the beer bottle, then took another big swallow.
Alex didn’t say anything else about the fight, but I knew that he had something on his mind. Everyone was starting to leave, with the few winners making their way to Luca’s man, Gino, who handled the betting. I went to Luca first, collecting my winnings.
“I gotta say, you surprised me out there,” he said while chewing on a toothpick and counting out my payment in twenty-dollar bills. “I can count on one hand the number of times someone has taken down The Beast.”
“Yeah, well, don’t be afraid to take a chance on the underdog next time,” I advised.
I only got a grunt in response. Alex and I collected the money we won, and I pulled my black t-shirt back on, as well as my black leather jacket. Then, I tossed my empty beer bottle in a trash barrel on my way out the door.
The night air was crisp, as it had gotten colder when the sun went down. It was springtime, and the trees were just starting to get their leaves back.
“You wanna tell me what’s on your mind?” I asked as we got into Alex’s pickup truck. It was one of the nicest vehicles in the parking lot.
Alex worked as the foreman for a commercial construction company in nearby Trotter Beach, so he made good money, and it showed in his choice of vehicle. He was lucky no one broke into the thing in this neighborhood.
“Why are you doing this?” he asked, looking at me with tired eyes.
“The fighting?”
I leaned back against the leather seat and felt my aching ribs. They hurt, but I was pretty sure none of them were cracked.
“Yes, the fighting,” Alex responded impatiently. “Don’t you see how dangerous this shit is? What if the big bastard had knocked you down, fracturing your skull on the concrete? Do you think your friends in there would have called an ambulance for you?”
No.
“I don’t have friends in there.” I shot him a smile. “That’s why I brought you.”
He didn’t look amused. “Yeah, well, it’s a one and done for me. I know you’re really fighting your own demons, but there’s got to be a healthier way to do that.”
I shook my head and looked out the window. There was a long moment of silence between us, but I eventually broke it.
“What the hell would you have me do? Go to some headshrinker?”
The idea was laughable. I wasn’t the sharing type, especially with some stranger. The fighting worked for me. I didn’t need to talk about my damn feelings.
“I think they prefer the term therapist.”
Alex pulled into the parking lot of the Blue Dog, and I was eager to get inside the bar. Even this conversation with Alex hadn’t brought me down from the high of winning, and I wanted to enjoy it. The Outlaw Souls were inside, and as a prospective member of the motorcycle club, I belonged among them. I stepped out of the truck, but when I turned to close the door, I saw that Alex hadn’t moved.
“You’re not coming?”
He shook his head. “I’m not in the mood tonight. Get one of your biker friends to give you a ride home.”
I shut the door of his truck, and Alex left before I even made it across the parking lot. I knew he wasn’t happy with me, but he’d get over it. I was sure he’d come again if I needed him to have my back. So, I brushed off his concerns and walked into the bar, where I could start spending my winnings.
Kat
I woke up to the sound of seagulls squawking. Despite this, my location didn’t register in my brain right away. The pounding ache in my head stole all my attention, and I groaned before I even opened my eyes. My arm was thrown across my face, covering my eyes, and I knew the meaning of regret as I moved it away.
The newly risen sun was already shining too brightly, hurtin
g my eyes even through my closed lids. I realized I was outside, and the events of last night came back to me.
Piper and I had gone to the Copper Bar, where I was quick to dump money into the jukebox and pick enough music to last for two hours. We drank, gladly accepting free drinks from men in the bar without offering anything in return other than polite conversation, and danced the night away.
None of the men in the place caught my eye, but Piper was a different story. Around midnight, she told me that she was leaving, and the guy on her arm looked startlingly like Nicholas Cage.
Good for her, I guess.
Not long after that, I left the bar, finding that it wasn’t nearly as fun without someone I knew to talk to. The sensible thing would have been to go home, even if I had to order an Uber because of the drinking, but I didn’t want to do that. Instead, I crossed the street, heading for the beach.
In the light of day, even with a throbbing hangover headache, I could see that wandering off by myself in the middle of the night after drinking heavily wasn’t the best idea. I carried mace on my keyring, but that didn’t mean I was invincible.
Once I reached the sand, I had pulled off my shoes and socks so that I could walk along the edge of the water barefoot. The gentle waves ran over my feet, wetting the bottom of the legs of my skinny jeans, and my toes sank into the wet sand with each step.
I wasn’t sure how long I had walked the beach before deciding to stop and rest. I had just intended to sit for a moment before heading back toward my car, hoping that I would be sober enough to drive home by the time I got there. But I made the mistake of lying back on the white sand, gazing at the sky above, trying to find shapes in the stars.
The next thing I knew, a damn seagull woke me up.
Sitting up, I used my hand to block the sun from my eyes as I looked around. I could tell that it was early by the positioning of the sun, which was good because I didn’t need to be late for work two days in a row.
I craned my neck and saw that I hadn’t walked nearly as far as I thought I had last night. My car was still sitting in the bar’s parking lot. I got to my feet, seeing that every inch of my clothing was covered in sand. I brushed it off as well as I could, going as far as to shake out my long hair before pulling it up with a hair tie that was around my wrist. Grabbing my shoes, I made my way toward the bar, cutting across the sand to save time.
There weren’t many vehicles on the road at this early hour, so it was easy to scurry across the street once I pulled my shoes back on. My throat was dry, and there was a nasty taste in my mouth, so I hurried home to brush my teeth and take a shower before work.
When I turned onto the street my house was on, I saw that I wouldn’t be able to park in my driveway. There was already a motorcycle there. It looked like Jason was at my house. Considering the early hour, I was willing to bet he spent the night. I parked at the curb and entered the house. The first thing I saw was my brother sleeping on my couch, snoring loudly. I didn’t bother to be quiet as I closed the door behind me, and he jolted awake.
“Where the hell have you been?” he asked through a yawn as he blinked at me sleepily. His thick black hair was a mess, and there was a red mark on the side of his face from where it had been pressed against the arm of the couch.
“You’re not my keeper,” I said, tossing my purse onto the small table by the door. “The question is, why are you in my house?”
I walked past him into the kitchen and turned on the coffee maker. Within seconds, the heavenly smell of caffeinated brew filled the small kitchen.
“Me and Lexie had a fight, so I crashed here,” he explained, following me and plopping down at the kitchen table.
“You didn’t think to ask?”
He shrugged carelessly. “I know where you keep the spare key. Besides, you weren’t even home.”
I would’ve come home if I’d known he was here, but I didn’t tell him that.
“You know, if you’re hungover, coffee’s not a good idea. It’ll just dehydrate you.”
“What makes you think I’m hungover?” I asked, leaning against the sink while the coffee finished brewing.
“You smell like a bar.”
I childishly stuck my tongue out at him. “You don’t exactly smell like a daisy,” I teased. “What’s your excuse?”
“Just pour me a cup of coffee,” he said with an eye roll.
I did, giving it to him black while I dumped a load of sugar into my own mug. I glanced at the clock on my stove. I still had over an hour before I had to be at work, so plenty of time.
“So, what was the fight about?” I asked curiously.
Jason had been living with his girlfriend for almost two years, and I thought they’d be engaged by now. They were a great fit, but I had a feeling that my brother’s priorities weren’t quite lined up for that ultimate commitment. Not that I had any room to talk. Thinking about and planning for the future wasn’t really my thing.
“She’s pissed because I have to cancel our date on Saturday.”
“Isn’t Saturday her birthday?”
“Yeah,” he sighed and rubbed his eyes. “But Las Balas wants me to do some work for them that night. You know that I can’t say no.”
That was true. Jason was a prospect, which meant that he wasn’t a full member until he proved himself. He basically had to do whatever they said to get in.
“What do they want you to do?”
“I can’t talk about it.”
I frowned. My dad had always been secretive about Las Balas’s activities, but I didn’t think that Jason would be the same way when he followed in our father’s footsteps. What the hell were they always so secretive about?
“And I’m sure that pissed her off.” I nodded. I got it. Lexie needed to feel like she came first, but Las Balas was demanding of his time. It was one of the problems that our parents had in their marriage, and they’d gotten divorced when I was eight. Jason had been ten, and it was disappointing to see him repeating our father’s mistakes when he should know better.
“She’ll get over it,” he said confidently. “She always does.”
I didn’t bother to express my doubts. A person could only bend so far before they broke, and I’d hate to see that happen with Lexie. Still, they’d have to work it out on their own.
“I better go shower. I have to be at work at nine.”
“I can’t believe you stayed out all night when you have to work today,” he commented with a slight shake of his head. “Seriously, what’s the deal with that? It seems like you’re never home anymore.”
“I’m only twenty-three. I’m too young to spend every night cooped up at home.”
I was deflecting, but he didn’t call me out on it. I didn’t want to get into my motives because talking about how lonely I’d been since our mom died made me feel uncomfortably vulnerable. And it depressed the hell out of me. She’d only been gone for six months, and I hadn’t brought myself to even clean out her bedroom yet. This was my home, but being here alone too much made me feel like I was suffocating.
I excused myself, going to the bathroom. The first thing I did was grab a bottle of ibuprofen out of the medicine cabinet and shake three pills out into my hand. I took them with some water from the tap and brushed my teeth.
Turning on the water in the shower stall, I ran it as hot as I could stand it, then stepped in, letting it wash over me, getting rid of the sand that managed to cover every inch of me. I couldn’t linger too long, but by the time I shut off the water and stepped out, I felt rejuvenated, and there wasn’t a single grain of sand left on my body.
My headache was still there, but it had diminished to a dull ache that I could live with. By the time I emerged from the bathroom, I was running short on time. So, I dressed in a flash, but when I went to grab my purse, my car keys were no longer sitting next to it.
“What the hell, Jason?” I asked. He was the only person here, so he must have taken them.
“I need the car if you want me t
o replace the tire,” he explained. “Or are you going to let me off the hook for that one?”
“Not a chance.”
“Then, let’s go. We’ll take my bike.”
That sounded good to me. I grabbed my helmet, a full-faced white one, out of my coat closet and followed him outside. It was a great day for riding, with almost no wind blowing and the sun shining down on us.
I loved springtime.
I used to have my own bike, a small Suzuki 650, but when my mom died unexpectedly, I needed cash to cover the bills I was used to splitting with her. So, I sold it. I hoped to buy a new motorcycle sometime soon when I could afford it. Things were finally starting to even out for me, and I’d even managed to start squirreling a little away.
“I’ll pick you up at six,” Jason said when he dropped me off in front of the shop.
“Make it seven,” I said, thinking about all of the extra work I would have to do to make up for Gary’s absence.
“Got it.”
As he rode away, I walked into the shop to be greeted by Brie and a customer already waiting. I was right on time, so it was a surprise to see a customer had beat me to the shop. Looking into her face, I could see her eagerness.
“Kat, this is Ashlynn. She had an appointment with Gary for today, so you’ll need to fill in,” Brie explained.
“I wish Gary was still here. He was so hot,” Ashlynn pouted, and I had to make sure that my thoughts didn’t show on my face. Her voice was grating, reminding me of a valley girl. It was too early to deal with this shit.
“Well, it’s just us girls now,” I said, taking a sip from the bottle of water I had grabbed from my refrigerator before leaving the house. I wouldn’t tell him because it would give him a big head, but Jason was right about dehydration. “Come on back.”
I shot Brie an exasperated look, and she suppressed a smile. Apparently, she thought it was funny to start my day with this chipper princess.
“This is my very first tattoo, and I’m so excited that I’m getting it before my sister’s wedding, so everyone will see it in my strapless dress,” she prattled on and on as we walked through the curtain and into my workspace. “Does it hurt really bad? My bestie has one on her foot, and she said she cried when she got it.”
